Power Struggles in Baghdad and Beyond Mean Opportunities for Iraqs Kurds

The thriving Kurdish mini-state in northern Iraq is a monument to the ability of the nationalist Kurdish-Iraqi leadership to parlay the conflict between more powerful geopolitical forces around them to maximum advantage. And the escalating power struggle in Baghdad, combined with the regional conflict between Iran, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states being played out in Syria, may offer the Kurdish leadership in Erbil new opportunities to strengthen foundations for independence from Iraq. It may be a perilous game of temporary alliances of convenience among forces that dont necessarily share a common vision, but thats precisely the sort of political balancing act that created the Kurdish polity in northern Iraq, which already has many of the attributes of independence such as its own flag, administration and security forces  and is seeking to expand its independent economic base.

The power struggle in Baghdad has escalated to alarming proportions in the months since the last U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki eschewing the principle of a unity government that gives all stakeholders a share of power and instead amassing power in his own hands. Even the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose support was critical to getting Maliki reelected, has taken to referring to the Prime Minister as the dictator. Sunni insurgent violence continues, while Sunni political leaders have been hounded out of government by Maliki. Recent days have seen him huddling with his key regional allies in Tehran, as he steps up a war of words and threats with Turkeys Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he accuses of meddling in Iraqs affairs. Turkey makes no secret of its support for Iraqs Sunni political bloc, Iraqiyya, and has castigated Maliki for pursuing a sectarian and egocentric style of ruling. Ankara has recently played host to fugitive Iraqi Sunni leader Tarek al-Hashemi, who was forced to flee Baghdad to escape a criminal prosecution his supporters see as a trumped up charge designed to hobble the Sunni political leadership. Hashemi fled first to Erbil, capital of Iraqs Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), whose terrain the Iraqi security forces are not authorized to enter.

(MORE: What the U.S. Leaves Behind: An Unstable, Vulnerable Iraq)

As dramatic as the language and gestures of some of the key players may be, however, patronage politics has entrenched a certain pragmatism in Iraqs political class that shows no sign of evaporating in a headlong rush into civil war. Still, every new breakdown and episode of brinkmanship brings opportunities to press the Kurdish cause.

The Kurds, who represent some 20% of Iraqs population, maintained good relations with Iran before Saddam Husseins ouster, and have typically been courted in post-Saddam politics when the major Shiite and Sunni political players have needed them to tip the balance against the other. The de facto casting vote provided by their share of Iraqs proportional representation parliament has allowed the leaders of Kurdistans main parties  the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talabani, who serves as President of Iraq, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masoud Barzani, who holds the position of Prime Minister in the KRG  to extract more concessions on autonomy and territorial control than Iraqs Arab politicians would otherwise offer.

The other shoe starts to fall in Iraq...100 Dead In Iraq As VP Gets Death SentenceMon Sep 10, 2012 - A wave of more than 20 attacks left dozens of people dead across Iraq as the country's fugitive vice-president was sentenced to hang for running death squads.

The most recent attacks this morning were in Baghdad, where car bombs ripped through six mainly Shiite neighbourhoods. "I heard women screaming, I saw people running in all directions, chairs scattered in the street. My windows were blown out, my mother and two kids were injured too," Alla Majid, still shaking after a blast in Baghdad's Sadr City, said. But those blasts came hard on the heels of a wave of coordinated attacks which saw terrorists hit targets including security forces and crowded marketplaces in at least 11 cities across the nation.

Estimates of the death toll ranged from 65 to more than 100. The attacks also left around 350 people injured, according to figures released by security and medical sources. The deadliest single incident was near the shrine of Imam Ali al-Sharqi in southern Iraq, where the local hospital said at least 16 people had died and 60 more were injured by two car bombs. With its main hospital overflowing with the injured, mosques in the nearby city of Amara used prayer loudspeakers to call for blood donations.

Among the other attacks:

Insurgents killed at least 11 soldiers when they stormed a remote army post near Dujail, north of Baghdad
Three people died when a car bomb exploded in a market in the southern port city of Basra
Seven people died in the volatile oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk when a bomb exploded beside a line of police recruits applying for jobs with a state-run oil company
A car bomb exploded outside a French consular office in Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.
There were also attacks in Fallujah; Tel Afar; and south of Samarra

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni insurgents have launched numerous attacks this year aimed at destabilising the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.

Iraqi fugitive VP Tariq al-Hashemi rejects terror conviction, calls terror trial shamSeptember 10, 2012 &#8212; Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president on Monday declared his "absolute innocence" and rejected the terror trial that sentenced him to death on charges of masterminding the murder of rivals as a politically motivated sham.

Tariq al-Hashemi, who fled Iraq after the country's government brought the charges against him, called the trial illegitimate and accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite and longtime foe of the vice president, of orchestrating it as part of a political vendetta. "I totally reject and will never recognize" the verdict, al-Hashemi told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara. "I consider the verdict a medal on my chest." "The death sentence is a price I have to pay due to love to my country and my loyalty to my people," he added. "I reiterate that I'm innocent, and am ready to stand before a fair judicial system and not a corrupt one that is under al-Maliki's influence."

Al-Hashemi fled to Turkey after Iraq's Shiite-led government issued the terror charges against him in December, the day after U.S. troops withdrew from the country. He would receive a retrial if he agrees to return to Baghdad, but al-Hashemi has refused, saying he will never get a fair hearing in a Baghdad court. The politically charged case sparked a government crisis and fueled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against al-Maliki, whom critics say is monopolizing power. On Sunday, Baghdad's criminal court convicted al-Hashemi and his son-in-law, Ahmed Qahtan, of organizing the murders of a Shiite security official and a lawyer who had refused to help the vice president's allies in terror cases. The two defendants were acquitted in a third case of the killing of a security officer due to a lack of evidence.

The charges were the first against al-Hashemi to go to trial among the government's allegations that he played a role in 150 bombings, assassinations and other attacks from 2005 to 2011 &#8212; years in which the country was mired in retaliatory sectarian violence that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime. Most of the attacks were allegedly carried out by al-Hashemi's bodyguards and other employees, and largely targeted government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims.

The Baghdad court sentenced both al-Hashemi and Qahtan in absentia to death. They have 30 days to appeal the verdict and could win a retrial if they return to Iraq to face the charges. Al-Hashemi &#8212; who has been in office since 2006 &#8212; is on Interpol's most-wanted list, but Turkey has shown no interest in sending the vice president back to Baghdad, straining diplomacy between the two neighboring nations. Al-Hashemi appeared defiantly upbeat at the packed press conference. "I am not worried about my life," he said. "I am worried about the future of my country."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani 'in coma after stroke'18 December 2012 - Jalal Talabani is Iraq's first Kurdish president

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is said to be in a coma in hospital after officials and media reported he had suffered a stroke. A statement on his website said President Talabani was in a stable condition and was being treated for blocked arteries. Well-placed Kurdish sources say he remains in a coma. A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Mr Talabani, 79, is Iraq's first president from the ethnic group. He has struggled with his health in recent years and has often been treated abroad. "Bodily functions are normal and the health condition of his excellency the president is stable," a statement on the presidency's website said.

The presidency said in an earlier statement that Mr Talabani's efforts to forge a consensus in Iraq and the "consequent fatigue and tiredness" had led to a "health emergency" that led to him being admitted to hospital on Monday evening. Soldiers assigned to the presidential guard were deployed around Medical City, Baghdad's largest medical complex where Mr Talabani is being treated. Senior government officials and politicians were seen entering the hospital to check on his condition. Mr Talabani's chief of staff, Nasser al-Ani, told state television that the president was in intensive care but was in a stable condition.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told AP news agency that doctors were deciding whether to continue treating him in Baghdad or to fly him abroad for medical care. Mr Maliki had visited the hospital to check on Mr Talabani's condition, he added. The president had heart surgery in the US in 2008, and was treated for dehydration and exhaustion in Jordan in 2007. Mr Talabani has lived through decades of conflict with the central government and other Kurdish groups, including a period in exile before the fall of Saddam Hussein.

He took over the mainly ceremonial presidency in the years after the 2003 invasion, and has often used the position to mediate between sectarian and ethnic groups. Recently he brokered a deal between Baghdad and Kurdish groups to end a standoff on disputed areas on the border with the Kurdish self-rule area. Mr Talabani and Mr Maliki were said to have met on Monday, and agreed to invite a Kurdish delegation to Baghdad for further talks.

Iraq's Jalal Talabani arrives in Germany for treatment20 December 2012 - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has arrived in Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke, Berlin says.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle wished the 79-year-old Mr Talabani "a quick and full recovery", without providing any further details. German doctors earlier said Mr Talabani's condition had improved sufficiently to permit travel. He has struggled with his health and has often been treated abroad. Mr Talabani was reportedly rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday evening. Iraqi officials conceded in private that his condition was serious and state television reported that he had suffered a stroke. "He is starting to regain his senses. He is able to feel pain, and this is a sign of progress," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the Associated Press. A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Mr Talabani is Iraq's first president from the ethnic group.

Unifying figure

Mr Talabani's illness comes at a time of heightened political tensions between Iraq's Arab-led central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. In recent weeks, he has been mediating in the dispute triggered by the government's attempt to take greater control of security in oil-rich territory around the city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by both Arabs and Kurds. Kurdish forces have been deployed in the region since 2003. A deal brokered by Mr Talabani called on both sides to withdraw troops from the contested areas, though no deadline was set. The president, whose powers are limited, is seen as a unifying figure who has helped prevent the disintegration of Iraq's fragile national unity government, which includes Shia and Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds.

If it should come to a situation where a replacement would have to be found, that will be very hard indeed, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut. Because of the power-sharing deal underlying the current Iraqi political setup, the presidency is in the hands of the Kurds - and for Kurdish political reasons, it would have to go to someone from Mr Talabani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), our correspondent explains. Because the PUK is so centred around him, there is nobody approaching his stature who would be acceptable both to Baghdad and to his Kurdish constituency as a replacement, he adds.

Here is all the lands that doesn't belong to Iraqis:
Iraq is dead. We all know it's gonna end up in 3 seperate states.

Click to expand...

Fuck Iraq, the Kurds just need to take a piece now while they can.

Click to expand...

Yes, and after that, the arabs will split this doomed country in 2 states, due to the minor difference (Religion)
Iraq was never meant to be a country anyway. The brits hoped, that the different ethnic groups could learn to live together. But it all ended in total chaos. So now it's time for Iraq to be devided, then later Syria will come and finally Iran, which will split in to atleast 5 seperate parts.

It's about time to crush the fake borders of this region, that are forcefully holding people back, taking away the freedom of many nations and ethnic groups.

Here is all the lands that doesn't belong to Iraqis:
Iraq is dead. We all know it's gonna end up in 3 seperate states.

Click to expand...

Fuck Iraq, the Kurds just need to take a piece now while they can.

Click to expand...

Yes, and after that, the arabs will split this doomed country in 2 states, due to the minor difference (Religion)
Iraq was never meant to be a country anyway. The brits hoped, that the different ethnic groups could learn to live together. But it all ended in total chaos. So now it's time for Iraq to be devided, then later Syria will come and finally Iran, which will split in to atleast 5 seperate parts.

It's about time to crush the fake borders of this region, that are forcefully holding people back, taking away the freedom of many nations and ethnic groups.

Yes, and after that, the arabs will split this doomed country in 2 states, due to the minor difference (Religion)
Iraq was never meant to be a country anyway. The brits hoped, that the different ethnic groups could learn to live together. But it all ended in total chaos. So now it's time for Iraq to be devided, then later Syria will come and finally Iran, which will split in to atleast 5 seperate parts.

It's about time to crush the fake borders of this region, that are forcefully holding people back, taking away the freedom of many nations and ethnic groups.

Click to expand...

I agree, all those countries were artificial anyways.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. If our enemies would take a look in history, then they would soon realise, that we have more rights to this land, than all 4 of them combined! They will always remain as fake states.

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